The Handmaiden's Tale

As the handmaidens prepared Amidala for her next meeting with Sio Bibble, the governor of Naboo, Sabé awkwardly shifted in her orange handmaiden robes as she scribbled down the last few lines into her diary.

Amidala is so worried about the Trade Federation taking action. I don’t know what is going to happen. I’m so concerned for her. This seems too much for a girl to handle. I must go. They are meeting with Nute Gunray, the leader of the Federation, to see whether the ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor have arrived. Rabé is calling me. I’ll write more when I have something to report, Sabé

Amidala sent the transmission and waited for the viceroy of the Trade Federation to appear. When the Neimoidian’s smug face appeared, Amidala waited for him to speak.

"Again you come before us, Your Highness," he said in his slick, oily voice.

"You will not be so pleased when you hear what I have to say, Viceroy. Your trade boycott of our planet has ended," Amidala snapped.

"I was not aware of such failure," the Neimodian said.

"I have word that the Chancellor’s ambassadors are with you now, and that you have been commanded to reach a settlement," Amidala said knowingly.

"I know nothing of any ambassadors. You must be mistaken," Nute suggested.

"Beware, Viceroy. The Federation has gone too far this time," Amidala warned.

The transmission ended, and Amidala looked over to Eirtaé. Send another transmission to Senator Palpatine. We will see about this." The queen waited for the Senator’s reassuring face to appear.

"The negotiations haven’t started because the ambassadors aren’t there? How could that be true? I’ve received word from the Chancellor, the ambassadors did arrive," the senator said. All of a sudden the images crackled, and Amidala was only able to catch a few words. "...negotiations...ambassadors...."

"Senator Palpatine? What’s happened?" Amidala asked her subjects.

"Check the transmitter," Captain Panaka, the head of security, ordered Eirtaé.

"A communications disruption can only mean one thing, invasion," Governor Bibble said.

"The Federation would not dare go that far," the queen said.

"The Senate would revoke their trade franchise, and they’d be finished," Panaka said.

"Then we must continue to rely on negotiation," Amidala replied.

"Negotiation? We’ve lost all communication! And where are the chancellor’s ambassadors?" Bibble said.

"This is a dangerous situation, Your Highness," Panaka pointed out. "Our security volunteers will be no match against the battle-hard Federation army."

"I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war," Amidala said. Then the queen and her handmaidens left the room.

Amidala had called her handmaidens into her room to discuss the event. Rabé sat down on the bed and began taking out Amidala’s complicated hairdo. Yané and Saché began picking out new outfits for her to wear. The queen brushed Rabé away and pulled Sabé aside.

"If the Federation does decide to act on invasion, I’ll need your help," Amidala said. "I need you to become my decoy."

Sabé was speechless. Becoming a decoy was the highest position that a handmaiden ever got to perform, and even the ones that did were Amidala’s closest friends and confidants.

"I don’t know what to say," Sabé said.

"Don’t say anything. This is not something we need to discuss right now. You’ll need to become me for some periods of time, so just be prepared to act as queen in my place."

"Yes, Your Highness," Sabé said.

"It’s Padmé now," the queen said sadly. A wave of pain seemed to ripple over her beautiful features. Sabé blinked. Then it was gone and the queen was smiling again.

"Oh, of course, Padmé," Sabé said with a frown. Why was Amidala so sad?

Sabé asked Rabé to help her into an impressive black cloak with feathers and then put on her makeup. Then Amidala slipped into her handmaiden role as Padmé and put on her orange handmaiden robes. They walked out single file, faces down, behind Sabé, who held her head high, even though her hands were shaking.

Nute Gunray was waiting for Sabé, Governor Bibble, Captain Panaka, and the handmaidens as they entered the throne room.

"I brought you here for a purpose, Queen Amidala," Nute said to Sabé.

"I was not brought. This is my throne room. I do not recognize your authority, Nute Gunray," Sabé replied defiantly, her face composed as if made of stone.

"If you had agreed to sign the treaty, you would not be in this position," the Neimodian replied smoothly.

"I will not cooperate," Sabé snapped as they walked down the stairs.

"Commander," Nute addressed a droid as they completed the first stairway, "process them."

"Yes, sir. Captain, take them to Camp Four," the droid acknowledged another droid standing by Captain Panaka.

"Roger, roger," the captain droid said before he led them off down the next flight of stairs. As the exited the palace, Sabé was stunned to see many of the people in chains being led to other camps by battle droids. I never realized until now how many people were suffering, she thought. Amidala must feel terrible about what the Federation is doing to her people. Now I realized why she was so sad. I must be strong, for her sake.

The small group began to head down a small alley. As they were about to pass under a small arch, two men jumped down from the top with glowing swords. A small creature jumped down besides them, looking awkward in the heat of battle. The two men both cut down the four droids with their swords. Sabé discovered that the older man was Qui-Gon Jinn, and the younger man was Obi-Wan Kenobi, his apprentice. The Gungan’s name was Jar Jar Binks. The younger man, Obi-Wan, smiled at Sabé. She blushed, but then remembered that she had a job to do. She composed her face and walked on.

The Jedi quickly explained that they had met with the Federation but had almost been killed.

"Do you have transports?" Qui-Gon asked.

"In the main hangar. This way," Captain Panaka led everyone to a small door overlooking the hangar. Battle droids patrolled the halls, and the pilots were being held captive by the ones that weren’t.

"There are too many of them," Captain Panaka admitted.

"It won’t be a problem," Qui-Gon said. He turned to look at Sabé. "Your Highness, under the circumstance we are in, I suggest you travel to Coruscant with us."

"It’s too dangerous," Sio Bibble objected, but Sabé cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"Either choice brings great danger to us all," Sabé said. For a moment she was stuck. She turned to look at the handmaidens, searching for the queen to help her. Command me, she pleaded.

"We are brave, Your Highness." Padmé’s voice was heard over the clanking and whirring of the hangar.

"Then we must move quickly. Come on," Qui-Gon motioned. Sabé quickly chose the three handmaidens that she and Amidala had picked earlier. Rabé, Eirtaé, and Padmé walked over towards her. Saché and Yané started to weep, but Sabé whispered reassuring words and their faces were reassured once more.

They had almost reached the ramp leading up to Amidala’s ship when a battle droid stopped them.

"Where are you taking them?" the droid asked, his metallic voice reverberating inside his hollow shell.

"To Coruscant," Qui-Gon replied calmly.

The droid had barely announced them under arrest when Qui-Gon reached inside his robe, pulled out his lightsaber, and cut three of the droids down in one smooth stroke. Obi-Wan went to work on the droids who were guarding the pilots. After he had freed the pilots, the ones who flew the ship ran on board, followed by the queen and her handmaidens, Captain Panaka, and then later the two Jedi.

Ric Olié, the pilot who was in command of the queen’s ship, looked up from the controls suddenly. "There’s the blockade," he announced.

The two Jedi looked up to see the looming bulk of the Trade Federation control ship moving closer and closer to their ship.

All of a sudden shots fired out at the cruiser and the ship swayed from side to side. Jar Jar, who was in the droids’ quarters, fell trying to grab hold of a hard surface.

Then an alarm sounded and something on the screen flashed red.

"Shield generator’s been hit!" Ric exclaimed.

The droids were called to action as they rolled over to the transport, which sucked them through to the top of the ship, where they went to work on the generator.

"If they can’t get this fixed, we’ll be sitting ducks," Panaka realized.

The Federation blew the first droid away, but the other droids continued to work on completing their job.

Sabé’s hands began to shake again as the ship was rocked by another bombardment of shots. What if we don’t make it out of here alive? she thought. She looked over at the cockpit.

The younger Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was sitting beside Ric Olié. His face was tight with concern, his features marred by the anxiety that Sabé could tell he was feeling. Suddenly he looked up as though he knew she was watching him. He turned and stared into her eyes. Sabé blushed beneath the heavy makeup she was wearing and Kenobi smiled before turning back to the window.

Then all of a sudden the red flashing lights turned green and Ric Olié let out a whoop of delight.

"Power’s back!" he exclaimed. "That little droid did it! Deflector shield’s up at maximum!"

Sabé silently celebrated inside herself as the ship suddenly roared back to life. The stars turned into streaks of light as they entered hyperspace.

Moments later, in the queen’s quarters, Captain Panaka and Qui-Gon Jinn stood before Sabé. The handmaiden kept her face calm, though her hands were trembling before the powerful Jedi Master. The captain presented the R2 unit that had saved them all.

"Without a doubt it saved the ship, as well as our lives," the dark-skinned man announced proudly.

"It is to be commended," Sabé said kindly. "What is its’ number?" she inquired.

"R2-D2, Your Highness," Panaka replied smoothly after taking a quick glance at the numbers.

"Thank you R2-D2," Sabé said.

Boop-beep! The droid replied, chattering a series of sounds. Sabé held back a smile.

"Padmé," Sabé suddenly announced. An almost evil smile curled on her lips. This joke would be too much for the queen. "Clean this droid up as best you can. It deserves our gratitude."

Under the orange hood of the handmaiden robe she was wearing, the queen just barely stuck out her tongue before motioning to bring the droid into the next room. Suddenly Qui-Gon, the older Jedi, stepped forward.

"Your Highness, I request that we have permission to land on a small backworld planet called Tatooine. It’s far beyond the range of the Trade Federation. I promise you’ll be safe there."

"Alright," Sabé agreed, after looking over the Jedi’s shoulder and receiving a small nod from Padmé. Qui-Gon nodded to Obi-Wan and the young Jedi ran up to the cockpit to tell Ric Olié.

He turned back before heading in and smiled at Sabé. Trying not to blush, the young queen dismissed Panaka and Qui-Gon.

"Ooh, I think he likes you!" Rabé whispered.

"Shut up, Rabé," Sabé joked.

"The Jedi likes the quee-een, the Jedi likes the quee-een," Eirtaé giggled.

Ignoring the two handmaidens, Sabé walked to the window. She placed her forehead against the glass and sighed.

"Don’t do that!" Rabé said. "You’ll smudge your makeup, and then I’ll have to redo it!" She pulled Sabé away.

"Sorry," Sabé said.

"What’s wrong?" Eirtaé asked.

"I’m just uncertain about this whole queen business," Sabé replied.

"Don’t worry, we’ll be behind you on this whole thing," Rabé said encouragingly.

Sabé opened to her diary as the other handmaidens left, giggling all the way. Hidden in the folds of her robes, the diary was also used as a message sender. But Sabé had no need for that now.

I can’t believe we almost made it to Coruscant! The two Jedi Knights got us safe and sound out of there. But there’s something mysterious about that older one, Qui-Gon Jinn that I can’t place. I think something is going to happen to him, and soon. What, I can’t say. There’s also something about Obi-Wan Kenobi. But what? Jedi are too secretive.

Amidala thinks I’m doing a pretty good job. I saw her face when I told her to clean that R2 unit. But I had to do something or the Jedi and Panaka would have suspected something. Plus I had to get her back for all the things she’s done to me. I know, I know. I really shouldn’t have. But I think she got the jest of it. More later when something important comes up, Sabé